The Canadian government announced on Saturday January 21 that it has reached a historic agreement with residential school survivors and their descendants. Worth approximately 2 billion euros, this agreement aims to repair the wrongs inflicted on the members of the first nations of a community of British Columbia in Western Canada who were forced to attend an educational institution which denied their culture and language.
With our correspondent in Quebec, Pascale Guericolas
It’s been 10 years since a group of 325 BC Indigenous former students and their descendants have been waging a legal battle against the Canadian government. The goal, to make the authorities recognize the loss of their culture and their language linked to their forced schooling. Like everywhere else in Canada, First Nations and Inuit youth forced to attend residential schools throughout the 19th and 20th centuries were cut off from their roots.
Marc Miller, Canada’s Minister of Indian Affairs, acknowledges that awareness of the harm done to Aboriginal people has only just begun: ” This agreement does not in any way mean that our work is finished. Today, it’s about the survivors, their community… »
By emphasizing the importance of survivors, the government is emphasizing the repair program which begins. Worth approximately 2 billion euros, this agreement provides for the preservation and protection of the culture and language of the community concerned, while promoting it. This fund, protected for 20 years, will be administered by 9 natives, as well as by a representative of the public authorities.
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